BOV Fall 2010: BOV updates College’s risk management plan

The College of William and Mary Board of Visitors’s Committee on Administration discussed the progress of the recently approved risk management committee and staff assembly Thursday.

Members of the Committee of Administration include Provost Michael Halleran, Vice President for Administration Anna Martin, Vice Chair Philip Herget III and Chair John Gerdelman, among others.

The open session began with a presentation by Martin on the recent projects of the Risk Assessment Committee. Since the committee’s approval, troubled students, natural disasters, epidemics, disruption in revenue and a failure to protect confidentiality were some of the 24 specific risks identified.

Martin said pilot projects within the Office of the Registrar and the Athletics Department have been taken seriously and have been met with good results.

“We are going to go to each department and identify these outlined risks and any particular risks a department may have,” she said. “One department of ours has serious confidentiality issues. To treat the risk, we might need to invest in more shredders.”

Director of Internal Audit Michael L. Stump said that the College dealt with issues of confidentiality in a unique manner.

All applauded when Martin took the opportunity to congratulate Chief Donald Challis and Captain Edgar Schardein of the William and Mary Police Department for completing the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s 10-week training program, which has been completed by less than 1 percent of law enforcement officers enrolled in the program.

President of the Staff Assembly Deloris Thomas updated the committee on the assembly, which has elected 20 staff members. As an advisory committee, the assembly reviews policies that affect staff, such as sick leave. The assembly also serves as a communication medium between administration and staff.

The Committee on Administration also received a brief update on Information Technology by Chief Information Officer Courtney Carpenter. After years of operating without an AT&T tower near campus, IT has now collaborated with a third company called Crown Castle to install small antennae around campus.
Carpenter also added that the transition of student e-mails to a different system was a smooth one with few complaints, and that network electronics replacements will be completed faster than expected. One problem that IT is facing, however, is security.

“We are always fighting hackers, who have now begun to hack applications,” he said.